Clothing & Shelter Preparedness

As is often the case, I received an e-mail question from a reader which required more than just a simple yes or no answer. Now that I'm receiving 500+ of e-mails a day, I'm trying to be smart in managing my time better, as such I thought it best to begin a new procedure when responding to reader's e-mails. I'm frequently asked questions which require detailed answers and yet, when I get the questions posed to me via e-mail, none of our other readers benefit from the information and I'm spending...

What does Independence Day have to do with literally, The Best Clothes Drying Rack? Well, I’ll tell ya. Independence Day is my husband’s absolute favorite holiday all year. It also happens to be the time when I get the most homesick because in comparison to what is available here in Utah—fireworks displays that you have to fight crowds and PAY you watch—ugh!—there’s just nothing like Central Ohio. You can see masterful arrays of fireworks in a different, nearby city 3 nights in a row and...

I suppose there's a little something wrong with calling the present solar panels on the market "affordable" but by comparison to what's on the horizon, they will look like dollar store deals.
This morning I received an e-mail from one of my readers. She had forwarded an e-mail to me which she had received. The e-mail is from a company that I'm familiar with, SolarPenny.com. In the e-mail the company explains that even though they placed an order from China for solar panels LONG before the May...

There’s a great deal of success for your preparedness efforts waiting to be snatched at your local thrift store, or a myriad of other places. And today I’m going to give you just few of those ideas. But before I do…
I know that many of you are anxiously awaiting the continuation of the water filtration article. It’s written (and, in fact I even accidentally posted it for about 8 hours), but out of respect for the expert whom I quote and resource in the article, I’m going to wait for him to...

I am NOT a fan of underground bunkers in the name of preparing against a nuclear fall-out scenario. In my opinion, it’s just plain overkill in light of what I believe to be practical. I recently watched a cast member of National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers” show who spent at least six figures just to install an empty underground bunker, located an hour and a half away from his home—which also means that he had to drop a pretty penny for the land as well.
Then he went on to purchase all...

We’ve been told to remember our hat, our coat, and sometimes even a clean pair of underwear, but in my opinion, no preparedness efforts are complete without the proper gloves. Yup, gloves—and I’m not talking about the obvious ones needed to protect our hands from freezing weather. I’m talking about the other gloves that you’ll wish you had if you get thrown any of the potential curve balls of more widespread and challenging times.
First and foremost are good, heavy work gloves.
An earthquake,...

When you think Clothing and Shelter Preparedness you need to think about them in terms of environmental control, durability, repair, and safety. These four aspects cover all of the potential considerations for being self-reliant in matters of clothing and shelter, which is why both are considered as one Principle of Preparedness.
First let’s take the clothing aspect. The clothing which you purchase today may end up being clothing that you rely upon long-term. I’m not just talking about some...

It’s a famine, an earthquake, no, wait, it just might be a plague! A plague of some of the smallest, yet most inconvenient creatures known to man, and feared by every Hospitality Industry Manager—bed bugs. Whether you're dealing with it now or in an uncomfortable time in the future, I felt that this particular topic merited my attention.
Move over Broadway, you’ve got a competitor for the spotlight now. And don’t let the news headlines fool you. It’s actually much worse than you’re hearing....

Perhaps it was a conspiracy, but that Saturday morning when I woke up and went through my routine, three light bulbs had burned out. Three? Really? Was it something I said? No problem. I can handle that. Downstairs I went to the bin in which I invested heavily in the “old” kinds of light bulbs before they are taken off the market (My personal favorite).
I then had a hankering for oatmeal—it’s been a long time. So I went to the cupboards to snag some quick oats. Somebody must have thought...

by Kellene
Looting is rampant despite relief sent to Haiti
I’m taking a pause from the Food Series to address what I feel is a timely and important issue in Haiti.
The biggest disaster to hit Haiti is unfortunately not the earthquake, rather it’s how the Haitian people are responding to the circumstances brought on by the earthquake. I watch in amazement as events more deadly than the earth’s rumblings brutally strangle a country that is already on its knees economically and socially.
I’m...